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Microsoft Settles Korean Antitrust Case
Channy writes Microsoft announced on last Friday that it had reached a settlement with South Korean Internet portal Daum in antitrust case of IM bundling. Daum had complained to the South Korean Fair Trade Commission in 2001, accusing Microsoft of breaking the law by tying its instant messaging software to Windows. A lawsuit on the same grounds was filed in 2004. By the settlement, Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash. In return, Daum would drop its lawsuit. Before this decision, Microsoft has threatened to withdraw its Windows software from South Korea if the country's antitrust agency orders it to unbundle its instant-messaging and media player software from the operating system. Despite this settlement, KFTC announced plans to continue investigation of this case and conclude the final decision within this year."
Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash
Where's the 20M$ remaining? Are they paying in licenses? Again? How long before MS licenses are on the forex rates?
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash.
So.. the other $20M will be in the form of an NSF cheque?
And when is the drop for the cash going down? Is the $10M going to be in small, non-sequentially numbered, unmarked bills?
What will happen when China stops using Windows and also becomes the leading maker and buyer of PCs? Companies that do business with China (and most do) will see less and less advantages in staying 100% Windows and less and less likely to buy Microsoft's nonstandard applications.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
It used to be if "you can't win, join them" it seems that Microsoft has redefined it :-)
Gosh, they may even patent it as a business practice !!
By the settlement, Microsoft will pay Daum $30 million, including $10 million in cash. In return, Daum would drop its lawsuit.
OK, but "justice has not been served". The problem of unfairly putting Microsoft's IM client in a favorable light is still there, and this company will still lose their market share to them, and consumers will still be worse off for having lost some competition.
Winner: The one with the deepest pockets! Subverting the not-quite-free-market to hurt consumers everywhere!
Why stick up for big business?
$10 million cash payment by Microsoft to Daum, $10 million in advertising deals and unspecified business terms worth a further $10 million.
So that's only really $10mil. The advertising probably won't cost MS much (they probably couldn't sell it for $10mil to anyone else - they wouldn't advertise a competitor anywhere noticeable anyway), and "unspecified business terms"? That's just giving MS more business - even if they don't make money from it, they won't lose much (they have to employ all their people anyway - might as well keep them busy).
So Daum gain $30mil, prehaps, but MS don't lose anywhere near that much. I don't know South Korean law, but I expect they could have won far more if they'd gone to court.
That actually wasn't supposed to be a Troll Post
I'm being quite serious, in that Microsoft seem to keep getting sued left, right, and center, all through the bundling of software products within its operating system.
It feels like some companies are jumping on the bandwagon, knowing they'll get a settlement.
~The TwoTailedFox posts again....
otherwise how would it look like if whole Korea switched off windows?
It would be like an enormous proof of concept, demonstrating that a country can safely ditch Microsoft products without drawbacks.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
After all, Microsoft is in a position to throw money around like 50 Cent in a rap video. This is simply a payment to make their problems not only go away in Korea, but to keep other countries from thinking that they can investigate Microsoft in the same way. The fact that the Koreans still want to investigate them is ecouraging, but not really meaningful IMHO.
There's nothing to see here. Move along.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
...except for all the korean gamers, who would probably explode.
...that M$ continues to bundle, just like before. I have come to one conclusion. Courts in Korea are just as inept as those in this USA. Sad indeed.
Massachussets is involved in a case with Microsoft over the future of digital documents. MA has made it a requirement that all records be stored in a completely open digital format, and have recommended that the OpenDoc standard qualifies (along with Adobe's PDF) and that Microsoft's new MSXML doesn't.
Microsoft is imposing some restrictions on the MSXML format -- and it would appear that they might be able to change those restrictions at some future time.
If they are willing to cut off an entire country, then potentially it may be impossible legally to read and modify that country's documents. Massachussets has to be aware that if it could happen to Korea, it could potentially happen to MA if they are too uppity.
We'll see if Massachussets officials can withstand the full-court press of Microsoft's hard-bought political muscle, but if anything should give those officials some backbone, it's this kind of nonsense.
Thad Beier
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
But I personally see no problem with bundling their client with the operating system, or even the media player for that matter. Most users use the computer as an appliance, they want it to just work. They dont want to go find an IM client and media player and install it, they expect it to just be there. If you dont like it, remove access to it via GPEDIT.
What I DO have a problem with is the amount of "digging" the average person has to do to find a way to remove them if they dont want them there.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
- Winston Churchill
Does this mean that Apple will have to unbundle Quicktime from Tiger if it ever ships to South Korea or other countries with anti-trust laws as well?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Microsoft Gives Daum $30Million, South Korea switches to Ubuntu. $30Mil would buy what, 60,000 computers that could run Ubuntu smoothly? (monitor included) And they could choose whether or not to install an instant messenger application!
A Skit:
"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed." -C.S. Lewis
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Personally, I don't really like the idea that some companies now are big enough to try to extort a mid-sized country. If I were South Korea, I'd really be worried what other global players might do in a few years time.
I guess this is one of the reasons why the European Union exists. One country alone, if it isn't a really big one like the US, is simply too small a market to matter to the global players if you annoy them too much. AFAIK, Microsoft never threatened to withdraw their products from the European market during the antitrust proceedings there.
"Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-my-own-Grandpa." - Dr Hubert Farnsworth
Banning the ability to install other IM clients is anti-competitive, not merely bundling.
Let's sue Apple for bundling their programs into their OS.
Jesus christ people, at least be consistent.
Blame the user, not the software.
I know that's a typo. The question is, did you mean "world domination project", or "world damnation project"?
:o)
This is MS - is there a difference?